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I subscribe to a blog by the name of For the Family and they posted this on their blog today, I thought is was worth sharing but am unsure how to re-blog directly from their blog, forgive me, lol. Nonetheless I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 🙂

One of the things we see God do throughout the Scriptures and throughout our lives is bring us to places where we must decide: Will I trust God in this moment?

Will I trust God even when all logic seems to aim in another direction?

Will I trust God even when I don’t feel like it? even when it’s not convenient? even when obeying seems counter-intuitive?

In Genesis 22, God tells Abraham to take his son — “yes your only son, whom you love so much” — and go and sacrifice him…

Up to this point Abraham had faced many challenges. Following God and His voice meant tough decisions. But none of the challenges he faced even came close to this challenge, the challenge of sacrificing his only son.

What is amazing is that Abraham makes the journey and follows through in obedience. But then, right before sacrificing the son whom he loves, an angel of God says to Abraham,

Don’t lay a hand on the boy! Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son (Genesis 22:12 NLT).

It was a very real possibility that Abraham’s love for Isaac (a good thing) could have come between Abraham and God (which would have been bad).

God had to know: would Abraham choose his only son Isaac? or would Abraham choose Him?

Likewise, God is regularly exposing where our true allegiances lie, and He’s regularly exposing all the things we allow to into our lives that crowd Him out. It’s often these things that cause so much of our worry and anxiety. Whatever it is that we allow to come between God and us is the very thing that attempts to control outcomes!

I love how author Paul Tripp puts it:

Here is what happens: important things (like family, work, housing, money, etc.) become all too important to us because they become the places we look to for rest. When they do, they not only do not give us rest, they become the reason for the endless cycles of worry, anxiety, and fear… Worry and rest always reveal the true treasures of your heart. You will rest the most when what you treasure the most is secure, and you will worry the most when what you treasure the most is at risk. What does your world of worry reveal about the true treasures of your heart?

You will rest the most when what you treasure the most is secure!

The Psalmist tells us this:

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act (Psalm 37:4-7).

The Psalmist is giving us a road map to a confident joy that frees us moment-by-moment from living in paralyzing fear and anxiety: delight in God. Make Him the central focus of ALL of your life, and in return your joy is guaranteed – He will give you the desires of your heart. Which is more of God!

What’s that thing you’re clinging to that is crowding out God from your life?

What’s your next move to surrendering that to God and allowing freedom to come through a simple (not easy) moment of obedience?

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise (Hebrews 10:23).

I believe in the saying that your first ministry is your marriage. Your spouse is someone the God has called you to minister to personally on an intimate and spiritual level. I set a reminder on my phone to keep me mindful to pray for my husband every day. It is my job as his wife to keep him covered in prayer, as it is his job to keep me covered as well. With that said here are 10 versus, I would like to share with you that I found here.

1. Pray first that you and your spouse would be humble in order that your prayers would not be hindered.

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. 1 Peter 3:7

2. Pray that the work of your spouse’s hand would be blessed by God.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17

3. Pray for wisdom to choose the God honoring option in every decision.

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; Proverbs 24:3

4. Pray for discretion to steward the resources God has given you.

Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.Ecclesiastes 5:19

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29

6. Pray for your spouse to take the way of escape God provides in temptation.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

7. Pray for your spouse to have spiritual victory in trials and over worry, discouragement, or doubt.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

8. Pray for your spouse to grow in faith and bear fruit in his/her walk with Christ.

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God Colossians 1:10

9. Pray for your spouse’s health and protection.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2

10. Pray that your relationship with the Lord and with your spouse would be ever deepening in intimacy, respect, and love.

In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— Ephesians 5:28-29

Ever since we brought our new daughter home, her older brothers have been the first to tell me when she is crying, whimpering, or smelling a little suspicious. “Somebody needs you,” they say. I have no idea how this little saying started, but at first it sort of annoyed me. I could be enjoying a quick shower… “Mommy, somebody needs you. The baby is crying.” Or, sitting down for a second, quite aware that the baby was beginning to stir from a nap…. “Mama, somebody needs you!” Okay! I get it already! And not to mention that the newborn’s needs pale in comparison to the needs of 2 little boys. Somebody always needs a snack, a band-aid, a different sock, ice cubes in their water, a NEW Paw Patrol, a stream of snot wiped, a hug, a story, a kiss. Some days never seem to end, and the monotony of being “needed”…

Antoniette Pacheco and her boyfriend Frank Medrano were interviewed together last year for Fitness Magnet. Frank Medrano translated the article into English on his Facebook page, and I recently came across the article. One of the things that I wanted to share from the article was Antoniette’s answer to the question, “What 3 tips would you give a woman wanting to get “lean”/weight loss?” I thought her answer was really great and I was most intrigued by her support of doing sprints opposed to long distance running.

I plan to give this a try for a while to see how I like it. Has anyone else used sprinting as a cardio workout? any tips or comments about it? Well I would love to hear others thoughts on the matter but in the mean time, here are Antoniette’s 3 tips in regards to the question above.

“Eat clean – Us women store food differently than men. It’s even more important to eat clean so that our bodies don’t store fat. That doesn’t mean starving yourself either! I am eating consistently throughout the day to speed up my metabolism, as well as feeding my muscles for growth and repair. More muscle means less fat.

Lift heavy weights – Lifting heavy weights will build muscle, burn fat, and increase athletic performance. It’s the sure-fire way to not just get lean, but to be strong!

Sprints- Burns fat and speeds up metabolism faster than long, slow, boring cardio. It also increases endurance, which helps with other forms of training that you do, and the results are quicker too.”- Antoniette Pacheco

This excerpt was taken from Frank Medrano’s Facebook page and can be found here, if you would like to read the full article.

One of the things that I like to do on Sundays is to prepare breakfast and a few dinners, for the week. It helps me to ensure my family is getting a hearty breakfast in the morning, without me actually having to cook every morning, and on days when I feel tired after work I can just throw something in the oven and call it a day.

One of my newer recipes for breakfast that I have been making is a breakfast casserole. Thing 1 LOVES eggs. He could eat them everyday for every meal if I let him. So I used to make little egg omelets in muffin tins for the family, but I began to grow bored. So I decided I was going to make a breakfast casserole one day from some craps of stuff in the fridge. It came out great and the family LOVED it.

Once I completed the casserole I cut it up into squares (12) and everyone got one for breakfast on Sunday, and the rest I bagged in little sandwich bags and put in the fridge. Now in the morning all everyone would have to do is grab a square and heat it up and go! My life made simple people. 🙂

I am including the basis of the recipe below, you can add in whatever you like to make it personal. Last week I wanted my kids to eat more veggies so I added in mushrooms and spinach and left out the salsa. You can pretty much make it your own. I hope you give this recipe a try and let me know how it goes over. If you have any questions feel free to comment below and I will answer. Enjoy!

(also, I keep forgetting to take a picture, so when I make this next weekend I will take a picture and upload to add to this post. Until then here is a pic from a similar recipe on allrecipes.)

Breakfast Casserole Squares

Ingredients:

1 package of turkey sausage, cooked and crumbled (you could also use the pre-cooked turkey sausage)

10 eggs, beaten (seasoned to your preference)

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup shredded cheese

1 1/2 cup Tater Tots

3/4 cup of add in vegetables (optional)

1/2 cup salsa (optional)

non stick cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8×10 baking pan or casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray and then sprinkle turkey sausage evenly across the bottom of the pan. Next sprinkle cheese and veggies (if using) on top of the sausage. Beat the milk into the 10 eggs, until well incorporated, and then pour over sausage and veggi mix in pan. Next if using salsa scoop over the eggs and lightly stir into egg mixture. Finally you will place the tater tots all over the top of the mixture, and place into the oven and bake for about 25-35 mins. Once the casserole is done remove from oven and let cool for about 10 mins and then slice into 12 even squares.